Games
by Judin
Summary: Moving like pieces in a chessgame and fighting with all the passion of the human heart. Kai is plunged into the game played in Robert's stone castle.


**Author's notes:** This is an old story I thought for sure I had already published here. The idea was born while I listened to "There you'll be" by Faith Hill. If you don't understand anything...that's okay. :3

This fic contains boy!love. Main characters are Kai, Johnny and Robert.

_Games_

It odd how a simple similarity can connect someone. Like eyes.

Kai sits at the end of the table, listening with one ear to Robert and Tyson argue. He has his eyes closed. Keeps them closed to avoid more contact, more fire. It came so fast, so unexpected; their eyes locked and suddenly his entire being was burning, something deep within him responding to a loud call. Robert had jerked, as if he too felt the same rush of excitement in his body.

_'How can something as simple as our eyes connecting make us stumble so? Red eyes…'_

But he had noticed other things that puzzled him more, like the way one particular other Europeans watched them, jealousy shining madly in his eyes, and the way Oliver searched towards Enrique when he felt the tension that crackled in the air, and he knew that Robert saw all of these things and that they pleased him.

It wasn't a challenge that Johnny was looking for when he asked Kai for the first battle; it was revenge, or something even deeper. Kai knows the feeling, but can't name it anymore. So he keeps his eyes firmly closed, not wanting to stir up any more trouble, not wanting to know what lies beneath the surface of this still water, but he can feel Robert's eyes reaching for him, silently telling him to meet them, fight them. The German wants more of that rush, and Kai does too, but he has to wonder, _'Do you want me? Or are you just trying to heighten his jealousy?'_

'_Does it matter?'_

'_No.'_

Maybe that is why he doesn't protest when Robert corners him in the hall, pushing him up against the rosecoloured wallpaper and kissing him, not once looking away from his eyes. He is obviously used to being on top, but Kai doesn't care, the same way he doesn't care if that is Johnny watching them from the doorway behind Robert, and whether or not Robert is aware, and he certainly doesn't care whether or not Johnny is crying.

Rei knows. He stands closer to Oliver, not noticeably much, but Kai sees it. Those two share a secret now, which is running from ear to ear but has yet to reach the more thick-headed members of his team. It ties them together with an invisible thread, but Kai sees it. Oliver has talked to Robert, but he just brushed him off; it's not their game and none of their business.

He walks in the garden, under a blue sky and with a gentle breeze threading its fingers through his hair, over the tennis courts and past the helicopter. He walks until he finds Johnny. The Scot is standing all alone in another square of garden, looking at the sky. Somehow he hears Kai's soft footsteps, and he turns.

It's odd how eyes can connect. Kai meets Johnny's calmly, even with the sharp sensation of the other boy's hatred prickling his skin. The passion of jealousy rides high in lilac eyes. As they lock with the Japanese's, their fiery souls tangle, and the blend tastes sweet on Kai's tongue.

Only a second goes by, and then Johnny attacks, but there is a difference between a beybattle and a physical challenge. Johnny is on his back immediately, struggling uselessly against Kai's iron strenght. The Hiwatari tries to look into his eyes again, but the Scot is trashing forth and back. Finally, Kai grabs his hair and pulls his head back, almost painfully. He searches him forever, diving into the lilac depths, pulling away the protective layers of lies and traditions, until he can look into the very essence of the boy beneath him. Johnny's eyes grow wide in fear and humiliation as Kai reads him.

_'I beat you! I beat you and he didn't even notice!'_

Kai still has his hand fisted in the other boy's hair, and on an impulse he bends down and captures Johnny's lips with his own. They kiss deeply, although the Scot is struggling, but he is not strong enough to push the Japanese away. Kai kisses him harder, pushing for full control. He doesn't stop until Johnny goes limp underneath him, but he lets go then, roughly, and stands up.

He knows what lies underneath the surface now; more muddled water.

Kai leaves.

The Prince of the castle stands alone in the window and watches as Kai pins Johnny to the grass. What are his thoughts? Like a fine game of chess he plays the people around him, allowing some to push others off the board. He is the black king; never the one to make the first move, but always the one to make the last, setting check mate. Kai is wise; he has learned to play his own game within Robert's, but even the queen works only to save the king.

'_You can't win, Hiwatari.'_

Robert watches as the Japanese walks away and Johnny lies behind, shaking on the ground. He smiles; Kai plays well. A little while later, when the Scot has left, stumbling back to the castle, the door goes up behind the German. He hears no footsteps, but senses the presence of the other coming closer.

"Kai."

"He loves you."

Robert ignores that. "Was he eager?" He asks.

"Not for me," Kai answers.

Soft laughter.

The German looks out the window, but there is nothing more to see, only grass and hedges and blue sky. Then the other boy's reflection is there and Robert turns to look into hard, red eyes. It is odd how eyes can connect and leave nothing but fire in their wake. No names, no scars, no lies. Robert looks madly triumphant as Kai shouts the words into his eyes.

_'He loves you!'_

Kai tears away as the answer echoes loudly in his head, but he has his own game to play and does not need Johnny safe and healthy. If Robert wants the boy then he can have him, and if Robert wants the boy broken...

The German reads Kai's decision and turns back to the window, "I'll see you on the battlefield, my black queen."

Fire under the surface, fire and ashes.

Kai leaves.


End file.
